Buddhists From Japan

"The international community is now faced with more complex and difficult challenges than ever imagined before: progress of the developing counties, alleviation of poverty, conservation of the global environment, nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the prevention and eradication of terrorism. In order to contribute to world peace, Japan will proactively fulfill its role as a responsible member of the international community, upholding its pledge not to engage in war and based on its experience as the only nation to have suffered from the atomic bombings and the path it has followed over the 60 years after war."

"Indeed in China, as seen from those anti-Japan demonstrations, there is strong anti-Japanese sentiment. Also, from seeing such demonstrations, some Japanese regard China with anti-China sentiment or shall I say a sort of feeling of repellence against China. But overall, I believe without expressing in words both in Japan and China, I believe the majority of people understand that promoting friendly ties between our two countries is of the greatest benefit to both countries, especially those in the responsible positions in the Government. I believe we should have this common understanding that we should strictly refrain from agitating any such hostile sentiment. I believe that because of the recent developments, there is this stronger understanding on this among those in responsible positions in respective countries. Without being affected by such anti-Chinese or Japanese sentiments, we were able to share the recognition in the talks that the friendly ties between the two countries are of importance. I believe both of us should take to heart very firmly this awareness and strive to further promote the friendly ties between our two countries."

"We generated these environmental pollutions, and in order to overcome pollution, we had to take in a lot of cost. Because we pursued economic development and economic growth, we polluted our environment. We do not want developed as well as developing countries to repeat the same mistake. That is why we pursue both environmental protection and economic growth. In doing this, the key lies in science and technology. In the past, we mass produced, mass consumed and mass disposed, and we took that for granted. However, we no longer live in that sort of age. We have to reduce waste as much as possible. We now also have to reuse waste as much as possible as resources, and all things need to be recycled from now on. A zero waste, zero emission society is necessity."

"When I assumed the office of the Prime Minister of Japan last year, many people thought that it would be difficult to implement the various reforms that I proposed. In fact, however, we have advanced reform in many sectors. The time has come to bid farewell to the systems and practices with which we have become familiar and to flexibly accept the needs and requirements of this new age we live in."

"Reform is always a challenge, as it requires us to confront the status quo. But that is no justification for inaction."

"A key point of the texts attributed to Shotoku is that if rulers and bureaucrats believe they are the owners rather than the servants of the law, corruption will follow. Corruption was already a problem in the 7th century, and the Shotoku writings define it as privileging the officials’ private interests over the public ones. …Manipulating the public in the interest of the private is the very definition of corruption."

"When, in 586 A.D., the Emperor Yomei died, the succession was contested in arms by two rival families, both of them politically devoted to the new creed. Prince Shotoku Taishi, who had been born, we are told, with a holy relic clasped in his infant hand, led the Buddhist faction to victory, established the Empress Suiko on the throne, and for twenty-nine years (592-621) ruled the Sacred Islands as Prince Imperial and Regent. He lavished funds upon Buddhist temples, encouraged and supported the Buddhist clergy, promulgated the Buddhist ethic in national decrees, and became in general the Ashoka of Japanese Buddhism. He patronized the arts and sciences, imported artists and artisans from Korea and China, wrote history, painted pictures, and supervised the building of the Horiuji Temple, the oldest extant masterpiece in the art history of Japan. Despite the work of this versatile civilizer, and all the virtues inculcated or preached by Buddhism, another violent crisis came to Japan within a generation after Shotoku’s death."

"In spring I stopped eating the bodies of living things. Nonetheless, the other day I ate several slices of tuna as a form of magic to “undertake” my “communication” with “society.” I also stirred a cup of ' with a spoon. If the fish, while being eaten, had stood behind me and watched, what would he have thought? “I gave up my only life and this person is eating my body as if it were something distasteful.” “He’s eating me in anger.” “He’s eating me out of desperation.” “He’s thinking of me and, while quietly savoring my fat with his tongue, praying, ‘Fish, you will come with me as my companion some day, won’t you?’” “Damn! He’s eating my body!” Well, different fish would have had different thoughts. … Suppose I were the fish, and suppose that not only I were being eaten but my father were being eaten, my mother were being eaten, and my sister were also being eaten. And suppose I were behind the people eating us, watching. “Oh, look, that man has torn apart my sibling with chopsticks. Talking to the person next to him, he swallowed her, thinking nothing of it. Just a few minutes ago her body was lying there, cold. Now she must be disintegrating in a pitch-dark place under the influence of mysterious enzymes. Our entire family have given up our precious lives that we value, we’ve sacrificed them, but we haven’t won a thimbleful of pity from these people.” I must have been once a fish that was eaten."

"Buddhism's starting point is that all living things, we who are so full of pain and sadness, together with all these living things, want to liberate ourselves from this state of pain. … All living things have been repeating transmigration for immeasurable kalpa. … Sometimes a soul perceives itself as a human. At other times it is born in a beast, that is, what we call an animal. … As a result, the living things around us are all our parents and children, brothers and sisters, as they have been for a long time. People of different religions will think this idea too serious and terrifying. [Indeed] this is a serious world to a terrifying degree."

"Though the river's current never fails, the water passing, moment by moment, is never the same. Where the current pools, bubbles form on the surface, bursting and disappearing as others rise to replace them, none lasting long. In this world, people and their dwelling places are like that, always changing."

"Nor is it clear to me, as people are born and die, where they are coming from and where they are going. Nor why, being so ephemeral in this world, they take such pains to make their houses pleasing to the eye. The master and the dwelling are competing in their transience. Both will perish from this world like the morning glory that blooms in the morning dew. In some cases, the dew may evaporate first, while the flower remains--but only to be withered by the morning sun. In others the flower may wither even before the dew is gone, but no one expects the dew to last until evening."

"When you see the ridgepoles of the impressive houses in Heian-kyo competing to rise above one another--dwellings of people of high status or of low--they look like they might stand for generations, but when you inquire you discover there are very few still standing from ages past. Some may have burned down just last year, and been rebuilt since. Or a mansion may have disappeared, to be replaced by smaller houses. Things change in the lives of the people living in those houses, too. There may be just as many people, but in places where I might have known twenty or thirty people in my youth, I may only recognize one or two now. Some die in the morning; others are born in the evening. That's the way it is with the people of this world--they are like those bubbles floating on the water."

"Among the four great elements recognized by Buddhism, three--fire, water, and wind--are frequently associated with disasters, but earth is most often identified with stability. Still, in the Saiko era (540), I believe, there was an earthquake so severe that it damaged the neck of the Todaiji's Great Buddha so that the head fell off, and did unusual damage to many other things. But it was no match for the violence of the earthquake this time. Those who experienced this earthquake all talked about it that way at the time, that of all the miserable things in this world, it was the worst, seemed to be a thing of evil passions. But the days and months passed into years, and they came to deplore other things, so that you might go for a month now without meeting anyone talking about the earthquake."

"People respond to these disasters in terms of their own experience. Unless the disaster has struck them personally, their circumstances, their environment, it is dismissed as a superficial thing."

"When the Japanese Zen priest Mugaku Sogen (1226-1286) was in China and threatened by invading Mongol troops, he composed a fourline poem. Years later another Zen priest, Sesson Yūbai (1290-1347), when he was in prison and threatened with death, took Mugaku's poem and, using each line as the opening verse of a new poem,"

"I do not like praises and honours Nor did I fear disdain I just stayed away. My mind, clear water, My body bound and tied For three years in Chang'an. I sing what I feel in songs In straight words, undecorated."

"Tsuki mo mite ware wa kono yo o kashiku kana."

"My hunter of dragonflies, How far has he wandered today?"

""Cuckoo!" "Cuckoo!" While I meditated on that theme day dawned."

"I raise the mirror of my life Up to my face: sixty years. With a swing I smash the reflection - The world as usual All in its place."

"My sword leans against the sky. With its polished blade I'll behead The Buddha and all of his saints. Let the lightning strike where it will."

"At times I supported the sky, at times the earth; At times I turned into a dragon, at times to a snake. I wandered at will through the cycles of life and of death. All the fathers of our faith I took into my mouth. I give as I will and I take as I will. I slash the leopard with my teeth; My spirit smashes mountains."

"In 1837, when Sengai Gibon was asked by one of his students if he had anything to say before passing away, he replied, “I don't want to die.""

"Sengai Gibon (1750-1837) was an artistic Zen monk of importance, who took "a transcendental view of things that are relative and limited. One eye was turned deeply inward, while the other looked out with concern to catch the fleeting shadows of our earthly life.""

"Suzuki often cited the work of Japanese Zen monk Sengai Gibon (1750–1837), whose painting Circle, Triangle, and Square he saw as the embodiment of the universe. Suzuki interpreted Sengai’s three fundamental forms as geometries of formlessness and infinity, which underscored his own view of emptiness as the essence of Zen enlightenment. This scroll has fascinated people ever since. Rather than a single level of black or gray, the ink tones keep changing. The forms overlap just a bit, suggesting interconnections between these fundamental shapes."

"Young bride Be alive till they say to you Die! Die!"

"If you say, 'Come back later', He will speedily come to snatch you away. Say rather, 'I shall not be in till I'm ninety-nine'"."

"’s (b. 1935) Triangle, Circle, Square quotes from Sengai’s famous 18th-century Buddhist painting. His early work of the 1960s, including music, performance, and writing as well as sculptural and conceptual works, was impacted by his exposure to Zen-informed thinking. De Maria developed an interest in task-oriented, game-like projects that resulted in viewer-interactive sculptures."

"Zen Master Seigan Soi (1588-1661) was born in Omi province. He was also known as Jisho, Koro, and Bodo, and was the Dharma-heir of (1556-1621, 159th abbot of Daitokuji)."

"Joy of living, / Living joy... Zen doctrine is null. Before I die, Here is the secret of my teaching - My staff nods in agreement. Katsu!"

"Seigan Sōi was the 170th abbot of Daitokuji in Kyoto. Also known as Jishōshi or Korō, he founded Zen temples throughout Japan and was invited by the shogun (1604–1651) to assume the abbacy of Tōkaiji in Shinagawa, Edo (Tokyo) in 1649, after the death of the eminent monk (1573–1645)."

"Nampo Jomyo was another who traveled to China to deepen his understanding of Zen. He was the nephew of Enni Ben’nen and became a monk at the age of 15. Three years later, at 18, he sought out the Chinese master Rankei Doryu [Lanxi Daolong] who had come to Japan to establish Kenchoji as a Rinzai temple in Kamakura. After a time with Rankei, Jomyo went to China to continue studying with Kido Chigu [Xutang Zhiyu], Rankei’s Dharma brother."

"To hell with the wind! Confound the rain! I recognize no Buddha. A blow like the stroke of lightning - A world turns on its hinge."

"In 1265, Jomyo achieved enlightenment and was recognized as an heir by Kido. Kido was so impressed by the young Japanese’s attainment that when the time came for him to return to his home country, Kido wrote this valedictory poem predicting the success he would find in Japan:"

"My hour draws near and I am still alive. Drawn by the chains of death I take my leave. The King of Hades has decreed Tomorrow I shall be his slave."

"As far as is known, the oldest work Muso signed with his pseudonym Bokutotsuso is dated 1334... Muso used this signature until the end of his life, and subtler characteristics or combinations of various factors can serve as clues."

"Thus have I rolled my life throughout Inside and out, reclined, upright. What is all this? A beating drum A trumpet's blare No more."

"My coming today is coming from no where. One year hence, my departing will be departing to no where."

"This year, the twenty-ninth of the twelfth No longer has a place to come to. The twenty-ninth of the twelfth next year Already has no place to go."

"When it comes - just so! When it goes - just so! Both coming and going occur each day. The words I am speaking now - just so!"

"On a winter morning in 1360, Zen master Kozan Ichikyo (sic) gathered together his pupils. Kozan, 77, told them that, upon his death, they should bury his body, perform no ceremony and hold no services in his memory. Sitting in the traditional Zen posture, he then wrote [his dead poem]... After he finished, Kozan gently put down his brush, and then died. He was still sitting upright."

"Whenever Chan Master Seisetsu Shucho gave Dharma talks at Engaku Temple many, many people would come. Whenever there was a talk the crowd would be so tightly packed into the hall that you could barely move. Finally, someone suggested that a new wing be added to the temple to allow for a more spacious lecture hall."

"He who comes knows only his coming, He who goes knows only his end. To be saved from the chasm, Why cling to the cliff? Clouds floating low Never know where the breezes will blow them."

"No single bone in my body is holy - It is but an ash heap of stinking bones. Dig a deep hole and there bury these remains Thus, not a grain of dust will stain The green mountains."

"Higan Choro or Zoso Royo (1194-1277), Rinzai monk attached to the in Kamakura, succeeded Eicho (d. 1247) at the Chorakuji in Serada, where Muju had heard him discuss the esoteric Shakuron in 1252. Royo's presence at the Jufukuji in 1260 was evidently a temporary engagement for him to lecture on his specialty. His last moments are recorded in Sand and Pebbles."

"When I was in my twenty-seventh year [1252], I converted Hōonji into a temple where the regulations were observed (ritsuin). At twenty-eight, I became a monk without any temple affiliations (tonsei);21 and when, after studying the regulations for priestly behavior for six or seven years I then decided to pursue the practice of meditation, in my thirty-fifth year [1260] while staying at Jufukuji, I listened to Higan Choro lecture on the Explanation of Mahayana and on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment. (I had heard him speak before on the Explanation [at Chorakuji]" in Serada in my twenty-seventh year.) I practiced zazen but within a year gave it up; being sick with beriberi, I could not achieve zen awareness."

"Life is like a cloud of mist Emerging from a mountain cave, And death A floating moon In its celestial course. If you think too much About the meaning they may have, You'll be bound forever Like an ass to a stake."

"Life is an ever-rolling wheel And every day is the right one. He who recites poems at his death Adds frost to snow."

"More than 90 years after the death of , Musho Josho (1234 - 1306) was born. He too went over to China and brought back the Zen of the , and wrote the Kozen-ki. His book was a protest against the oppression of Zen by the Sect. Even in the days of Josho, the oppression was continuing. Therefore, Eisai must have met much oppression, and his resolution for the rise of Zen must have been heroic."

"Empty-handed I entered the world Barefoot I leave it. My coming, my going - Two simple happenings That got entangled."